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Alistair Salders
Alistair Salders is a major character in the series The Rising. Alistair is the youngest child of Natalie and Jack Salders, and is the brother of Kyle and Janet. Biography Early Life Alistair Salders is the youngest son of Natalie and Jack Salders. He is the younger brother of Kyle and Janet Salders. Growing up, he was picked on by his older siblings for receiving more attention from their parents. On his 9th birthday, Alistair tried running away from them after their relentless taunting and fell down a staircase which he narrowly missed permanent injuries. After that, he got along with his older brother and sister as they felt bad and stopped their verbal abuse. When Alistair was 15, his father was stabbed in a robbery attempt. Alistair was with his family to say their final goodbyes to Jack. Watching his father die, he became shaken at the prospect of dying himself. While his mother tried to comfort him, he still feared death but he managed to push it aside and moved on with his life. While studying at university, he met Riley Thorton and started a relationship with him. By the time he was 26, Alistair and Riley had moved in together in a house they managed to buy. Powers and Abilities As an Archyte, Alistair commands a supreme level of skill and mastery of the arcane. He has been noted with creating various enchantments, powerful acts of magic and razing an entire city in one night through his control of undead minions. It has been speculated that he is the most powerful practitioner of magic in the entire world, greater than even the Supreme King. |-|Human= Prior to the War of the Dead, Alistair was a normal human. He was noted for having a strong will by the Supreme King as Alistair managed to fight back against his magic, albeit to little effect. The Supreme King also saw the magical potential in Alistair, which drove him to turn Alistair into an Archyte in the first place. |-|Archyte= Upon becoming an Archyte, Alistair initially struggled with the concept of magic. Jordan Blackwell, the first Archyte, tutored Alistair in how to use magic. Once he realised how to bring it out and shape it to his wishes, he improved in leaps and bounds. His knowledge of magic quickly became the most extensive of anyone alive or undead, leading to other Archytes to seek his advice and occasional assistance. With his astonishing degree of power coupled with his diminished morals has made him an incredibly dangerous adversary, becoming feared by the human resistance. * Magical Mastery - Alistair has been able to wield a significant amount of magical energies and has channeled these energies into either blasts or beams that can harm or destroy. The more he channels, the more devastating the effects are. * Immortality - Being undead, Alistair is immune from standard human ailments such as disease, ageing and sickness and has the potential to live forever. In addition, Alistair possesses an anchor which allows him to remain earthbound provided that it remains in existence. * Advanced Telekinesis - As an Archyte, Alistair has proven to be incredibly efficient with the skill of telekinesis by moving objects with his mind. He has shown to be able telekinetically pin, throw, and trap humans and undead effortlessly. He has been able to lift or move large objects with minimal difficulty. Furthermore, he has demonstrated the ability to harm humans and undead by crushing them externally or even internally and even make them or objects be obliterated. * Telepathy - Through much practice, Alistair developed a certain degree of success in piercing someone's mind and being able to obtain information, having greater success in being able to 'listen' to surface thoughts. However, this ability is limited partly due to the strength of the individual's mind. If an individual possesses a strong enough will, they will be able to block Alistair completely. He is also able to lock or unlock the minds of other undead. Alistair also has the power to block memories of other undead, however blocking someone's memories will not last as the mind fights back and is able to remove the block. This was shown was Alistair blocked Ryan's memories just as the end of the war was near, but Ryan was slowly able to regain pieces of his memories. He also possesses a psychic link with the undead and the Supreme King. * Elemental Mastery - Alistair is extremely proficient with the manipulation of the different elements of the world, in particular fire. He has been able to create balls of fire or even large infernos in a short amount of time. Furthermore, he has demonstrated the ability to create large gusts of wind or even freeze objects. His greatest achievement was being able to create a storm which ravaged the land after much effort. He can also detect primal energies in the earth, such as in crystals or certain rocks. * Super Strength - As an undead, Alistair has an increased level of strength to a greater degree than that of a human. He has been able to lift humans and heavy objects easily or break the neck of a person. * Super Endurance - He has been able to withstand damage and pain that would significantly incapacitate a human due to being undead. However, he is just as susceptible to injury as a human would be. * Super Stamina - Due to being undead, Alistair does not require any sustenance, air and does not tire as his magic fuels him. He has the potential to remain active indefinitely. * Dueling - Alistair is an incredibly skilled duelist who was able to overcome combatants such as Travis Walter, Kyle Salders, Craig Peterson and Erica McMillan and defeated them all. However, it should be noted that they did not possess any magical abilities that gave them an advantage in their fights. He has been able to effectively use his combat skills along with his magic to defeat many of his foes. Alistair has also proven to hold his own against many of his fellow Archytes, but often was unable to beat Sonja Emmerson, who had perfected an art revolving around her flail, and Jordan Black. * Teleportation - Alistair is a master of teleporting, being able to disappear and reappear instantly. He has been able to use this to great effect during combat situations, such as teleporting around Travis Walter to taunt him as well as systematically eliminating a small battalion in a short amount of time. However, he must be able to visualise where he is going before teleporting. * Apporting - Being adept at magic, Alistair has been able to will objects from one location to another. However, he must know exactly where that object is otherwise he cannot transport it. The exception this rule is his staff, as Alistair is able to sense wherever his staff has gone. * Necromancy - Alistair has proven to be incredibly adept at raising the dead into undeath and managed to reanimate an entire cemetery in a short time and used the reanimated bodies to attack the city of Melbourne. He eventually learned how to carefully control the undead on a micro scale, using them to assault humanity. He has also shown to be able to force the actions of other undead or even wrest control of a large number of undead from others with minimal ease. * Crafting - Part of being an Archyte is to choose a weapon that is tied to them. Alistair managed to create and shape a staff out of various minerals with his magic. He also was able to create the Darklight Blade that was used to defeat the Supreme King with the assistance of the other rebellious Archytes. * Regeneration - Having a large amount of magic, Alistair's body will naturally recover from any wound or injury he has suffered. Alistair can increase how quickly he can heal by channeling magic. The only wound that cannot be healed is the one he received from the Supreme King. It has been left as a permanent scar. * Healing - Alistair has shown to have a limited amount of healing abilities, able to heal * Staff - Originally a staff that he used to channel his magic through, Alistair managed to empower his staff by using a rock from the Source that allowed him to utilise a greater amount of magical energies than ordinary. In addition, the staff has been proven to be indestructible and linked to Alistair in a way that no one has been able to replicate. The staff has been shown to teleport itself when Alistair was forced into submission by the Supreme King and acted as a lock for some of Alistair's secret weapons. * Leadership Skills - Alistair has been described as a master of strategy and lead the undead to many victories. During the war, he would often provide assistance to his commanders or even step in for them if he believed them to be incompetent. It was his tactical genius that aided his rise to power within the undead ranks and secured his place next to the Supreme King. Perhaps one of the greatest examples was his victory over Fort Tyson, completely devastating the human resistance in a short amount of time. He would often adopt different strategies than other commanders who would often resort to trying to overwhelm their enemies with sheer numbers. |-|Post-War= Following the defeat of the Supreme King, Alistair lost the vast majority of his powers. Like all undead, he was cut off from the Source. However, he still retained a limited amount of increased endurance and stamina due to his status as being undead. Due to losing his connection to the Source, he increasingly felt weakened to the point where he was unable to move for short periods of time. He speculated that, given time, he would cease being undead and merely revert to being simply dead. |-|Magic Restored= Once Alistair and Travis Walters managed to restore the Undead's connection to the Source, Alistair's magical abilities were replenished to their greatest potential. He was able to command his full powers instantly upon receiving them. |-|Cured of Undeath= When Alistair was injected with a serum aimed at reversing the effects of the undead, he was temporarily returned to life. In this state, Alistair possessed all of his abilities with the exceptions that he required food, air, water and rest. This didn't last as the effects of the serum weren't permanent and his body failed, reverting back to his undead self. Weaknesses As one of the first Archytes and possessing a strong affinity with magic, Alistair is one of the most powerful beings on earth. But despite his level of power, he does share a number of weaknesses that are common to other undead. * Destruction - Although powerful, his body is still susceptible to harm like an ordinary human. If Alistair's body is damaged in a significant way, the magic that keeps him animated will seep out leaving him weakened until he is able to heal. He is also capable of being incapacitated should he receive an injury that would normally kill a human (e.g. severe damage to the chest, head trauma, etc) but will revive given time. His body could also be destroyed through means such as explosions or a level of damage that he wouldn't be able to repair from, which would leave his soul disembodied and waiting until he could restore himself. * Loss of Magic - As he is undead and reanimated through the use of magic, he would be unable to exist without magic. After the death of the Supreme King, he initially found that he had no magical abilities and was cut off from the source of magic like every other undead. Over time, he found his body starting to fail as the magic started to dissipate. * Upper Level Undead - Powerful undead are able to harm and destroy Alistair. Although his skill and strength make him incredibly strong, he is not omnipotent and can be overpowered. * Soul Container Destruction - Alistair's container is, while heavily enchanted, still susceptible to being destroyed. While the damage or evisceration of it won't cause any lasting harm to him, it will scar the soul and he is unable to create another container for an unspecified period of time. Furthermore it risks the chance of being unable to remain earthbound should his body also be destroyed. Personality Alistair is cold, stoic, ambitious, cunning Having been killed and brought back by the Supreme King changed Alistair. He was faced with difficult choices and having to murder other people for his new master. He was subject to constant physical and psychological torture to shape him in carrying out the Supreme King's agenda. The experiences made Alistair ruthless and cruel. He became desensitised to the deaths of people around him and no longer hesitated in bringing about destruction to his enemies or others he deemed as necessary targets. Prior to becoming an Archyte, Alistair was compassionate and unable to bring himself to harm others, demonstrating the severe effects of the Supreme King's actions had on Alistair. Alistair maintains a calm and reserved approach to everyone and everything around him, not giving into his emotions. He has the foresight to act appropriately when planning for the future, able to forge alliances and manipulate people to achieve his goals. Even when he loathes or has a vendetta against someone, he seldom lets such feelings dictate his actions and will only pursue his personal desires if they fit into his plans or he no longer finds them useful. He often chastises others if he believes that they have wasted an opportunity or failed to exploit a person or situation to their advantage. Despite this, Alistair is incredibly vengeful and able to habour a deep hatred of people who have earned his anger. He is especially vindictive towards anyone who has caused harm to people he cares about. Years after Janet was raped by Arthur Yates, Alistair found him and inflicted horrific torture upon him and had him humiliated and himself raped in revenge. Alistair has also displayed sadistic traits, taking enjoyment and satisfaction in the pain and misery he visited upon his victims. He could be seen reveling in the agony Craig Peterson and Charles Young suffered at Alistair's hands. He views the Undead largely as an extended family, seeking to protect them if he can. Unlike the Supreme King and other Undead in the hierarchy, he doesn't believe that Undead are just slaves that can be disposed of. He actively prepared plans to preserve his forces in battle even though he had a significant numerical advantage compared to the humans as he didn't believe they could be used as fodder and also, if they didn't develop appropriate tactics, their forces would deplete rapidly. His views on the Undead that retained their minds was more diverse during the War. He prized those who had greater magical potential but, above all else, had the intellect to learn, adapt and prepare their own plans. Those that exceeded his expectations or showed an uncanny ability survive were elevated and some became the first Reapers, who became devoted to Alistair. Those that he found lacked any ability to properly think and examine the reality around them earned his contempt and even hostility if Alistair's plans failed because of the incompetence of others. He was willing to punish and even execute other Undead that were irresponsible, reckless and His greatest trait is his sense of self preservation, willing to go to extraordinary lengths to ensure his survival. As the War progressed, he believed that the Supreme King would eventually make an enemy out of the Archytes once humanity had been removed. Being one of the few that saw this likelihood, and unwilling to let this become a possibility, he spent many months in formulating a plan to save himself and the other Undead from their master. When a cure for undeath was found, he viewed it as the means for his enemies to use against him, displaying a certain level of paranoia. Despite Jordan's insistence that it would be used only for any undead that want it and the resources he had used to create it, Alistair still destroyed the laboratory housing the cure and killed involved in the project fully knowing that, if Jordan found out, he would be devastated and furious. However, it should be noted that an earlier version of the cure was used to temporarily return him to life.